Principal Software Engineer

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Job Title: Principal Software Engineer - AI Tooling & Quality Engineering Platforms
Team: Global Quality Engineering (GQE)
Location: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco

Overview
Paramount Skydance Corp. is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to architect, build,
and scale AI‑driven tooling and engineering platforms that accelerate quality,
automation, and developer productivity across the Global Quality Engineering
organization. This is a senior technical leadership role focused on designing intelligent
systems, internal developer tools, and automation accelerators that elevate testing
maturity and modernize how GQE delivers quality at scale.
You will partner closely with engineering, platform, and data teams to build AI‑powered
solutions that streamline test creation, triage, analysis, and execution. This role requires
deep software engineering expertise, deep architectural judgment, and hands‑on
experience applying LLMs, retrieval systems, and automation frameworks to real
engineering workflows.
This is not a traditional “in test” role. You will be building AI platforms, internal tools,
and automation accelerators that enable hundreds of engineers across GQE.

Key Responsibilities

AI Tooling Architecture & Platform Development
● Design and build AI‑powered tools that accelerate test creation, code generation,
defect triage, log/telemetry summarization, and root‑cause analysis.
● Architect retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) systems, embeddings pipelines,
and domain‑specific LLM integrations tailored to GQE workflows.
● Develop internal developer tools, CLIs, services, and micro‑platforms that
integrate seamlessly with existing automation frameworks and CI/CD systems.
● Build scalable APIs and services that expose AI capabilities to GQE teams
across brands and platforms.

Intelligent Automation & Quality Acceleration
● Create systems that automatically evaluate test failures, classify flakiness, detect
patterns, and recommend fixes.
● Build AI‑assisted test authoring tools that generate high‑quality test scaffolds,
assertions, mocks, and data models.
● Integrate AI‑driven insights into CI/CD pipelines to reduce triage time, improve
signal quality, and accelerate release readiness.
● Partner with automation framework owners to embed AI capabilities into existing
Java‑based frameworks.

Engineering Excellence & Technical Leadership
● Serve as a senior technical leader leading the vision for AI‑enabled quality
engineering across the organization.
● Mentor engineers across GQE on AI tooling, platform engineering, and modern
software development practices.
● Evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and platforms to identify
practical, high‑impact opportunities.
● Establish engineering best practices for reliability, observability, performance, and
maintainability of AI systems.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration
● Partner with Platform Engineering, Data Engineering, Playback/Video
Engineering, and Product teams to integrate AI tooling into core workflows.
● Work with QE leadership to understand pain points, define requirements, and
prioritize high‑value AI capabilities.
● Collaborate with DevOps and CI/CD teams to ensure AI tools operate dependably in
production pipelines.

Technical Execution
● Build high‑performance backend services using Java, Kotlin, Python, or Node.js.
● Implement vector databases, embeddings pipelines, and retrieval systems using
tools such as Pinecone, Weaviate, FAISS, or OpenSearch.
● Develop microservices, event‑driven systems, and distributed architectures
deployed on Kubernetes and cloud platforms.
● Integrate with GitHub, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and internal automation
frameworks to deliver seamless developer experiences.

Required Qualifications
● 8+ years of software engineering experience with robust backend development
expertise (Java, Kotlin, Python, or similar).
● Proven experience architecting and building production‑grade AI or ML‑powered
systems, including LLM integrations, RAG pipelines, or intelligent automation
tools.
● Strong knowledge of distributed systems, microservices, cloud platforms
(AWS, GCP, OCI or Azure), and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
● Hands‑on experience with vector databases, embeddings, prompt engineering,
and LLM orchestration frameworks.
● Experience integrating tools into CI/CD pipelines and developer workflows.
● Strong architectural judgment, systems thinking, and ability to design scalable
internal platforms.
● Excellent communication skills and ability to influence across engineering,
product, and quality organizations.

Preferred Qualifications
● Experience building internal developer platforms, productivity tools, or
automation accelerators.
● Familiarity with test automation frameworks, quality engineering workflows, or
large‑scale testing systems.
● Experience with observability stacks (Grafana, Prometheus, DataDog, NewRelic)
and telemetry pipelines.
● Background in media/streaming, distributed playback systems, or device‑level
testing environments.

Key Competencies
● Technical Leadership – sets architectural direction and elevates engineering
maturity.
● AI Fluency – practical judgment on where AI delivers measurable value.
● Systems Thinking – ability to design platforms that scale across teams and
brands.
● Innovation – identifies opportunities to transform workflows through intelligent
automation.
● Ownership – drives complex initiatives end‑to‑end with autonomy and clarity.

Success Metrics
● Delivery of AI tooling that reduces triage time, accelerates test creation, and
improves signal quality.
● Adoption of AI‑powered tools across GQE teams and measurable improvements
in productivity.
● Reduction in flakiness, false positives, and manual triage effort through intelligent
automation.
● Increased engineering efficiency and faster release cycles enabled by
AI‑augmented workflows.
● Strong cross‑functional alignment and consistent usage of AI platforms across brands and pillars.

#LI-JC1

Paramount Streaming, a division within Paramount Global, is the home to the company's direct-to-consumer services spanning free and paid in the form of Pluto TV and Paramount+. Pluto TV is the global leader in free ad-supported TV, delivering more than 1,400 global channels and an extensive library of streaming content, including live and original channels. Paramount+, digital subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, combines live sports, breaking news, and A Mountain of Entertainment™. Paramount+ features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hiring Salary Range: $203,000.00 - 260,000.00. 

The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York, California, Colorado, Washington state, and most other geographies. Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education.  The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 401(k) plan, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, tuition assistance program and PTO or, if applicable,  as otherwise dictated by the appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreement. This position is bonus eligible.  

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here: https://www.paramount.com/careers/benefits
• Generous paid time off.
• An exciting and fulfilling opportunity to be part of one of Paramount’s most dynamic teams.
• Opportunities for both on-site and virtual engagement events.
• Unique opportunities to make meaningful connections and build a vibrant community, both inside and outside the workplace.
• Explore life at Paramount: https://www.paramount.com/careers/life-at-paramount

Paramount is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) including disability/vet.

At Paramount, the spirit of inclusion feeds into everything that we do, on-screen and off. From the programming and movies we create to employee benefits/programs and social impact outreach initiatives, we believe that opportunity, access, resources and rewards should be available to and for the benefit of all. Paramount is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, and Veteran status.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access https://www.paramount.com/careers as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to paramountaccommodations@paramount.com. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.